Hey, guess what???!!!

We're getting MARRIED!!!

Bill and I have talked about getting married for a looooong time. Maybe even a little TOO soon in our relationship (but, maybe not... when you know, you know). We've talked about our life- together forever, our goals, our dreams and our children. We love each other so dearly and we've been perfect for each other from the beginning. I love him... so much. SO SO much. The fact that I will be his wife in a little over a year makes me so very happy. (Just the fact that I get to be with him every day makes me happy- and I'm lucky enough to have that already.)

On Friday night I was on Pinterest (as usual) and started pinning engagement rings. We were both looking and comparing styles, etc. Little did I know...

On Saturday we went to take Bill's little buddy, Tonio to lunch and to the comic book store for his birthday. We went to Goodwill and got a wine rack. We complained about how hot it was (is) and how we'd really like to go on a walk outside (but of course in this heat, we'd melt). So I suggested going and walking around Grapevine Mills Mall. BAD IDEA (or so I thought in the beginning). I had no idea it was tax free weekend and that this HUGE mall would be packed full of people. Just, absolutely packed... and not very cool, temperature-wise. I, being the controlling person that I can be, decided that I wanted to look at rings, compare prices and write down item numbers of the ones I liked. We went to three stores and nothing really special caught my eye. We kept walking around, looked at some non-ring related stores... and finally we came to our last stop.

We walked into the jewelry store and I asked the salesman where the bridal sets were. My eyes focused on one ring (seen above). I tried it on. He gave Bill the price. I tried on another ring- it was ok, but it wasn't THE ring. I wanted something romantic and almost antique-looking. The salesman told me to try on THE ring (now MY ring) again... and Bill could tell how much I loved it. (The salesman also went down on the price quite a bit, which was awesome... and the fact that it was tax free weekend actually ended up benefiting us.) So.. he bought it.

Aghhhhh!

My heart was fluttering, I couldn't believe it. We walked out of the store, and Bill told me he had planned to propose to me in the next couple of months, once we got moved in to our new apartment. That he wanted to go to dinner with all of my friends and ask me to marry him. We talked back and forth about possibly waiting to get officially engaged- but I am impatient and I wanted to wear.that.ring. We went home, and we both changed clothes and freshened up a bit... and... HE PROPOSED. He said some really sweet things and put the ring on my finger. I am overjoyed. We both feel a little... different. I didn't think I would, because I thought it would just be so natural since we already knew that we'd be together forever- but we felt kind of distinguished. And so happy.

We called our parents and our friends. They were all delighted. We are so grateful to have wonderful friends who are almost as excited as we are!

And that's all she wrote. I get to marry the love of my life in 2012. Before getting engaged we knew we wanted to keep it simple... so we'll be having a small ceremony and then heading to the State Fair of Texas to celebrate with friends and family. I'm already planning... making guest lists and picking things for our registries. I definitely don't want to rush in to any major decisions, as we have over a year to prepare... but it's all just so exciting that I can't wait to plan certain things. I want my wedding to be as simple and low stress as possible- I want to have fun, of course... but I'm looking forward to the marriage more than the celebration.

I am such a lucky girl. I love you to the moon and back, Bill. XOXOXO